Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage (Paperback)

Ann E. Denkler

ISBN 10: 0739119923 / ISBN 13: 9780739119921

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Lanham, MD, 2010

About this Item

Paperback. Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage examines the complex web of public history, race, cultural identity, and tourism in Luray, Virginia, a rural Southern town. The "texts" associated with this town's public historytourist brochures, promotional narratives, historic homes, memorials, and monumentsare devoted to the founding eighteenth-century families and Confederate soldiers in Luray's past, but they also marginalize the history and heritage of African Americans and American Indians, and nearly obliterate the history of women in this region. Thus, the public history does not reflect the actual history of this town.A close look at one town helps to debunk the ideas and ideologies of the existence of a monolithic "South", since the term could mean Mississippi, North Carolina, or somewhere-in-between. Luray and the Shenandoah Valley, with their distinctive geographical, economical, architectural, and cultural history can boast of its own discrete "southern" identity. The book reveals how African-American texts and history reveal contributions to the town of Luray and the Shenandoah Valley region. The book studies the "Ol' Slave Auction Block", a controversial public history site that subverts the white, hegemonic heritage of the town. Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage is groundbreaking in its study of African-American tourism. This book explores the complex web of public history, tourism, and race in Luray, VA, a small town in the Shenandoah Valley ensconced in Lost Cause heritage. By utilizing a diverse range of methodologies, including ethnography, this book demonstrates how contested race relatio. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780739119921

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage (Paperback)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, Lanham, MD
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0739119923
• ISBN 13: 9780739119921
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage examines the complex web of public history, race, cultural identity, and tourism in Luray, Virginia, a rural Southern town. The "texts" associated with this town's public history-tourist brochures, promotional narratives, historic homes, memorials, and monuments-are devoted to the founding eighteenth-century families and Confederate soldiers in Luray's past, but they also marginalize the history and heritage of African Americans and American Indians, and nearly obliterate the history of women in this region. Thus, the public history does not reflect the actual history of this town.
A close look at one town helps to debunk the ideas and ideologies of the existence of a monolithic "South", since the term could mean Mississippi, North Carolina, or somewhere-in-between. Luray and the Shenandoah Valley, with their distinctive geographical, economical, architectural, and cultural history can boast of its own discrete "southern" identity.
The book reveals how African-American texts and history reveal contributions to the town of Luray and the Shenandoah Valley region. The book studies the "Ol' Slave Auction Block", a controversial public history site that subverts the white, hegemonic heritage of the town. Sustaining Identity, Recapturing Heritage is groundbreaking in its study of African-American tourism.

About the Author

Ann Elizabeth Denkler is assistant professor of history at Shenandoah University.